The rule is the last trains can run late, but never early. They advertise an impossible connection time because there are always people pushing their luck and they make it because of the delayed last trips. They could make the last trip times a little more realistic (last 77, for example, is scheduled to leave Harvard at 1AM, and I've never seen service released downtown before 1AM, let alone get to Harvard by then), but still it's safer to set a time you know won't be beat. People complain about the inconvenience of having to wait for all the connections to be made, and as someone who's been on these connecting services a number of times, it's a pain, but it's much less a pain than having to walk home after paying for a ride that you already missed (been there done that)!

Just because youre not comfortable with the technology does not mean it is not accurate.

You've never liked the fact that I speak as though I know what I'm talking about, which I do because I actually know what I'm talking about. It's very frustrating to see people insist something is fact that you know first hand is not! You're right, though, my disdain towards new and unproven technology which is a great tool but not remotely accurate to the letter of the law being used as such does not by itself indicate that it isn't accurate, but the simple fact that it isn't accurate does, however.

Seriously, no, don't 'buy' my observations, go make your own. Go talk to and spend some time with the people who actually provide the service, as I've done, and witness first hand how the operation works. The people who do it are far more knowledgeable about the service they provide than the people who have written code to monitor it.

Just because youre not comfortable with the technology does not mean it is not accurate.

CRail wrote:You've never liked the fact that I speak as though I know what I'm talking about, which I do because I actually know what I'm talking about. It's very frustrating to see people insist something is fact that you know first hand is not! You're right, though, my disdain towards new and unproven technology which is a great tool but not remotely accurate to the letter of the law being used as such does not by itself indicate that it isn't accurate, but the simple fact that it isn't accurate does, however.

Seriously, no, don't 'buy' my observations, go make your own. Go talk to and spend some time with the people who actually provide the service, as I've done, and witness first hand how the operation works. The people who do it are far more knowledgeable about the service they provide than the people who have written code to monitor it.

"We are running with normal train service on the Red Line. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Is every train that is part of the shutdown sequence trackable by the tracking software? If someone were to graph out the activity based on the data, would it be accurate? Would it be a complete picture - and if not, what's missing?

The MBTA will no longer guarantee a connection from the last E trip starting January 1st (thus hopefully speeding up the last-train connections by about 15-20 minutes). That trip averages one passenger per day.

Trying to appease people who don't understand how the system works is the opposite of sanity. So now the 12:32 and the 12:47 trips will end up waiting for the Red Line, and the two trips that follow the Connector will still come back empty as they always did. I bet the current procedure gets restored in the spring schedule, or before then as the 12:32 will likely be released early when the 12:47 gets stuck behind it.

jboutiet wrote:Is every train that is part of the shutdown sequence trackable by the tracking software? If someone were to graph out the activity based on the data, would it be accurate? Would it be a complete picture - and if not, what's missing?

The software can only tell you the location of a train. It cannot tell you its status (if the train is in service or not). It was reported that the system has to wait for the last train that leaves Lechmere, but that isn't true as there are two trains that depart after the "connector" that return to Lechmere out of service. The people who insist the Google knows all can't know from their observations that those last two trains are empty and not picking up passengers. Now, the last in service train will carry people inbound theoretically after all of the connections are made and will get stranded in the city which defeats the purpose of the connections in the first place. Don't forget, too, that the last E train also has to connect with the last 39 as a holdover from the Arborway line, just as the last train out of Kenmore waits for the 57 (A Line). Another reason the old connector will likely just get stuck behind the new connector and effectively change exactly nothing.

CRail wrote:Now, the last in service train will carry people inbound theoretically after all of the connections are made and will get stranded in the city which defeats the purpose of the connections in the first place.

A train which is said to average 1 rider. And as long as the public knows what time the last connecting inbound runs, then it wouldn't matter anyway.

The folks who found the last E delaying the whole shut down process didn't suggest this method of shut down. In fact, I don't think they made any suggestion and merely pointed out the absurdity of it. The MBTA also claimed there was no issue with their shut down policy and yet they changed it anyway. They could have continued to put their fingers in their ears and said, "La la la la la, everything is perfect and totally not flawed," but instead they're trying to make a correction. That doesn't bode well for the "everything is fine" mantra the MBTA was pushing.

(Example) The last guaranteed connection E train has waited for Orange Line passengers at North Station and moves on to pick up the last connecting Blue Line and then Red Line passengers. Then it heads outbound to Heath St. It has to come back in to be stored at Lechmere or Reservoir.

If this train picks up passengers then it will look like the last inbound trip of the night where the third last or second last inbound trip was the last guaranteed connection trip. There may well be a few passengers on Huntington Ave. who don't need to make connections and/or who would welcome the ride into town.

(To the theater stage manager) Quit twiddling the knob and flickering the lights while the audience is entering and being seated. (To the subway motorman) Quit twiddling the knob and dinging the doors while passengers are getting off and others are waiting to board.

What data was right? The "data" that says the last train out of Lechmere is waited for by the entire system? Prove it.

BostonUrbEx wrote:A train which is said to average 1 rider.

Said by whom, a reporter who's never ridden it? Or does the infallible tracker data give pax counts now too?

DisneyGuy wrote: The last guaranteed connection E train has waited for Orange Line passengers at North Station and moves on to pick up the last connecting Blue Line and then Red Line passengers. Then it heads outbound to Heath St. It has to come back in to be stored at Lechmere or Reservoir.

Westbound Huntington Avenue connection is guaranteed by the 39 bus, not a streetcar. The last westbound E train does not wait at Park Street, or anywhere else for that matter. It continues on schedule to Heath Street and returns to Lechmere empty.

Notices have been posted saying the last train from Heath Street will now leave at 12:32. So the later trip that used to return in service will not. Notice the last train out of Lechmere remains unchanged at 12:30. I guess that last train will now make the trip in 2 minutes instead of 17! That'll be fun to watch on the tracker map!!!

- Nothing is improved, nothing is made worse. Everything shuts down almost the same for 99.9% of everyone (operators, riders, staff, etc) involved.- The change is reverted for the next new set of schedules.